Among the conventionally-known riding lawn mowers is the so-called rotary lawn mower which cuts grass by rotating a cutting blade, accommodated in a downwardly-opening housing, along the surface of grass. Examples of such a rotary lawn mower include a type for use in a mulching mode and a type for use in a bagging mode. The lawn mower for use in the bagging mode collects grass cut by the cutting blade (i.e., cut grass or grass clippings) in a grass clippings receptacle, while the lawn mower for use in the mulching mode chops the grass clippings into finer pieces within the housing and discharges the thus-chopped glass clippings downward of the housing.
An example of the riding lawn mower for use in the bagging mode is known from Japanese Examined Patent Application Publication No. HEI-5-55086 (hereinafter referred as “Patent Literature 1”) and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2009-50222 (hereinafter referred as “Patent Literature 2”). More specifically, the riding lawn mower disclosed in Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2 includes a guide section provided on a front portion of the inner surface of the housing and centrally in the width direction of the housing. The guide section is formed in a generally V shape tapering from the front inner surface portion of the housing toward an entrance of a cut grass (glass clippings) delivery passage as viewed in top plan.
An example of the riding lawn mower for use in the mulching mode is known from Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. HEI-9-187139 (hereinafter referred as “Patent Literature 3”). More specifically, the riding lawn mower disclosed in Patent Literature 3 has an opening formed in a rear portion of the housing, and the opening is closed with a detachable wall member. With the wall member closing the opening, the riding lawn mower can be used in the mulching mode. With the wall member detached to open the opening, the riding lawn mower can be used in a so-called rear discharge mode where grass clippings are discharged rearward through the opening. Namely, for switching between the mulching mode and the rear discharge mode, it is necessary to attach or detach the wall member that is one type of mode-specific component part. Further, the riding lawn mower disclosed in Patent Literature 3 includes a guide section provided on a front portion of the inner surface of the housing and centrally in the width direction of the housing. The guide section is formed in a generally V shape tapering from the front inner surface portion of the housing toward the rear opening of the housing as viewed in top plan.
However, it is often inconvenient to use such two types of lawn mowers depending on intended purposes. So, recent years have seen development of a technique for allowing a single riding lawn mower to be used, or operable, both in the bagging mode and in the mulching mode. To that end, it is required that the single riding lawn mower be able to efficiently discharge grass clippings downward of the housing in the mulching mode and efficiently collect grass clippings in a grass clippings (cut grass) receptacle. Besides, when the riding lawn mower is switched from the bagging mode to the mulching mode or from the mulching mode to the bagging mode, there is a need to replace a predetermined component part of the previous or switched-from mode with a component part dedicated or specific to the new or switched-to mode, and such component part replacement is a troublesome operation.